With the Might of Angels

The Diary of Dawnie Rae Johnson

In 1955 in Hadley, Virginia, 12-year-old Dawnie Rae Johnson, a tomboy who excels at baseball and at her studies, becomes the first African American student to attend the all-white Prettyman Coburn school, turning her world upside down. Includes historical notes about the period.J

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Pinkney explores school integration in a small Virginia community just months after the historic Brown vs. Board of Education decision in 1954. Dawnie Rae Johnson and her parents make the life-changing decision to have her attend the all-white Prettyman Coburn High School in September 1954. Dawnie shares her first year of fear, terror, and, ultimately, triumph as the only Negro child in the school. Along the way she draws inspiration from her hero, Jackie Robinson, the school lunch ladies, and the school janitor. The author includes lots of supplemental material that explores a very turbulent chapter in American history.